February 23, 2015

Thomas Mulcair
NDP Canada
300 - 279 Laurier West
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5J9
Re: Interviews regarding Bill C-51
She:kon Thomas
I would like to call your attention to the importance of language when
speaking on Indigenous issues. Keep in mind; our histories and stories are
oral traditions. Therefore, the nuances of language take on especial
importance towards accuracy and understanding.
In the interview with Evan Solomon, you made the statement Our First
Nations Groups or it may have been Are First Nations Groups. I listened
several times and was unsure what the wording happened to be. Whenever
Canadian politicians speak on indigenous issues and use the possessive
adjective our when talking about Indigenous people, it strips us of our
identity as sovereign Nations. Packed into this action is the denial of our
Inherent and Treaty rights because it is impossible to be both Canadian and in
a treaty relationship with yourself when you consider the implied
understanding that no sovereignty exists.
With this understanding you can see that the phrases Our First Nations,
Our Aboriginal Canadians are phrases loaded with the intention of colonial
control and oppression.
The use of the term First Nations groups makes us sound like the Rotary Club
or the Odd Fellows. Again, we need to look at this and what it speaks to with
the notion of Indigenous Sovereignty. A group is not a recognizable sovereign
entity. It is ambiguous at best in expressing what you might mean and it
distances the subject of your point from their Inherent and Treaty rights.
If, in fact you wish to name a group whose composition includes multiple
Indigenous Nations, say the name; like, Idle No More.

In the interview with Tom Clark on Global, you threw in the words Inherent
Rights and Treaty Rights like they were a check box on a list of talking points.
Listening to the interview, I had the feeling that it is a scripted item to get out
when talking Indigenous issues. I found myself thinking Does he really
understand the concepts of these rights and that in accepting these rights in
the full spirit and intent, it acknowledges our individual sovereignties as
distinct Nations including the right to self-govern as is true with any sovereign
Nation? Does he really mean this or are these words meant to recognize the
issues, pacify Indigenous opposition to inaction on these issues, and create
space for more inaction?
These thoughts on what you might mean when you threw the words Inherent
Rights and Treaty Rights into the interview triggered addition thoughts. I
would like to know these things: What is the NDP position on the
Comprehensive Land Claims legislation and the clauses that extinguish
Indigenous Rights? What is the NDP position on Indigenous Self-Government
legislation that again extinguishes Indigenous Rights and future claims? Does
the NDP understand these policies and legislation are racist and deny
Indigenous pre-existing right as recognized and acknowledged in the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples?
It is hard to address the issue of Indigenous sovereignty across all Indigenous
Nations on Turtle Island because each Nation has nuances in the collective
understanding of what this means. Ask a Woodland Cree or a Mohawk what
they understand sovereignty to mean and you will get at least two different
answers. Further muddying the waters by using the word group of First
Nation makes the whole discussion of our rights impossible
This does not serve the improvement of conversation between Canada and
First Nations.
I have raised this very issue with the group Canadians For a New Partnership.
I refused to sign their Declaration because it makes this same mistake of
denying Sovereignty, Inherent Rights and Treaty Rights in the first paragraph
of the Declaration Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples of this country.
This phrase denies sovereignty and effectively denies Inherent and Treaty
rights. We are not of this country but of our own individual and sovereign
Nations
I have also raised this matter with the ex-Prime Ministers individually.

I have not received a reply from any of them including CFNP.

In my work of combating systemic institutional racism and racist
commentary, denial of Indigenous Inherent rights and Treaty rights is the
single most frequent and endemic feature of both policies and legislation. It
is also a primary hot button in racist commentary directed at Indigenous
People. Stemming out of this is denial of sovereignty and any notion of our
right to self-governance. This is consistent in every instance of
Canada/Indigenous relations since the founding of the nation state Canada.
Any actions that feed into these ideas and the institutional ideology that
makes racism systemic in Canada further oppresses Indigenous Nations and
the individuals that comprise these Nations.
This book provides a concise presentation differentiating human rights from
Inherent and Treaty rights of Indigenous People.
http://arpbooks.org/books/detail/aboriginal-rights-are-not-human-rights
The links to the two interviews are below.
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thehouse/debate-over-anti-terrorism-bill-heats-up1.2964920/tom-mulcair-criticizes-anti-terrorism-bill-1.2964998
http://globalnews.ca/news/1843737/given-the-power-mulcair-would-amendanti-terror-bill-not-repeal-it/
These are my opinions only. I am not a leader and I cannot speak for others
without their approval. Nia:wen.
:nen ki' whi

Kim Weaver
Turtle Clan
Mohawk Nation